daytrading nov 18 pre-market

Morning traders.

Market wrap:

Shares are set to open higher after changes to China's economic policy helped inspire record closes on Wall Street on Friday.

The December SPI 200 futures contract advanced eight points or 0.2% to 5417 as US stocks rose for a sixth straight week and the big two Australian miners locked in solid gains.

The S&P 500 rallied seven points or 0.41% to 1,798.18 for a five-day rise of 1.6%. The Dow put on 86 points or 0.54% for a weekly gain of 1.3%. The Nasdaq added 0.33%.

"Bulls have been given a boost by dovish comments this week from Fed chair nominee Janet Yellen, indicating that she believes the Fed has more work to do in order to strengthen the economy and suggesting that QE [quantitative easing] may continue for some time to come," Colin Cieszynski, senior market analyst at CMC Markets in the US, told MarketWatch on Friday. "Soft Empire manufacturing and industrial production data this morning support the case for delayed tapering."

The Empire State Manufacturing Index, a measure of factory activity in the greater New York region, declined to -2.2 this month from +1.5 in October. The negative reading was the first since May and well below economists' expectations. A national measure of industrial production dropped 0.1% in October, the first retreat since July. A fall in fuel prices dragged a gauge of prices paid for imported goods down 0.7%.

Also helping market sentiment was a big rally across Asian bourses after China revealed a series of market-friendly economic policy changes, including an increase in private investment in government enterprises, interest-rate reform and the abandonment of the 'one-child' policy. The changes agreed at last week's Plenum and belatedly revealed on Friday helped the Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rally 1.69% on Friday. Read more here and here.

All 10 S&P industry groups advanced in the US, led by energy and resource stocks. Exxon Mobil gained 2.2% to reach a new all-time high close after Warren Buffett revealed a stake in the company. BHP put on 1.1% and Rio Tinto added 1.45%. Spot iron ore for import to China edged up 20 cents to US$136.80 a dry tonne.

Gold eked out its first winning week in three as investors continued to bet that the US Federal Reserve will maintain stimulus spending until at least March. Gold for December delivery rallied $3.30 or 0.3% to US$1,289.60 an ounce for a weekly gain of 0.2%.

Oil's run of declines extended to a sixth week after early gains dissipated on Friday. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery slipped 10 cents or 0.1% to US$93.66 after settling at US$93.84 a barrel for a loss of 0.8% for the week.

Copper edged above a three-month low as cautious buying supported base metals at the end of a generally downbeat week. US copper for December delivery bounced about a cent or 0.35% to US$3.17 a pound. In London, copper gained 0.25%, lead less than 0.1%, nickel 1.3%, tin 0.1% and zinc 0.2%. Aluminium was flat.

European stocks matched Wall Street's six-week winning streak. The Stoxx Europe 600 index put on 0.18% for a weekly gain of 0.1% as Germany's DAX advanced 0.21%, France's CAC 0.19% and Britain's FTSE 0.4%.

TRADING THEMES THIS WEEK

CHINA BITES THE BULLET: Turns out China's leadership settled on significant economic reforms during last week's plenum - they just didn't get around to announcing them until Friday. Asian markets liked what they saw, resulting in decent gains across the region. Our market should play catch-up today. US analysts anticipate further gains in the weeks ahead as the market adjusts to the new outlook. Read more here. The preliminary November manufacturing report is due on Thursday.

BAD NEWS STILL GOOD IN THE US: Economic data out of the US this week is unlikely to have much impact unless there are major surprises. For now, investors remain locked in a mindset that says economic disappointments are market-positive because they support the case for maintaining stimulus spending. And positive data is mostly okay, so long as it's not too positive. It's a win-win set-up for bulls.

ECONOMIC NEWS: A light week for scheduled domestic news includes: minutes from the last RBA meeting, leading index (tomorrow); leading index (Wed); and a speech by RBA Governor Glenn Stevens (Thu). US highlights include: home builders' index (Mon); employment cost index (Tue); retail sales, consumer price index/core CPI, existing home sales, minutes from the last Fed meeting (Wed); and the producer price index/core PPI, weekly jobless claims and Philly Fed (Thu).

Good luck to all.